marks the final end of the Christmas season.
Christmas is 40 days long...like Lent, like Easter...
Numbers are very important in Scripture, and in the life of the Church and our lives.
A child spends 40 weeks in the womb before he is ready to be born. The Istraelites spent 40 years in the desert...Christ spent forty days in prayer and fasting before beginning his public ministry.
Even in folklore we find this number is important: we speak of having "forty winks" when we have a short necessary rest in the daytime.
Auntie Joanna's book gives more information on the Calendar and how it all works...
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2 comments:
Easter is actually 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost.
Of course, but the last nine days are a Novena- Ascensiontide - from Ascension to Pentecost. It is the 40 days between Easter and Ascension that are relevant here. And what a pity that, at least temporarily, our Bishops have "moved Ascension to the nearest Sunday". I think this will eventually be sorted out. and then we will all understand again some of the beautiful nuances there are in Scripture and in the Church's rich tradition.
Auntie J.
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